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All the action, races, news, gossip, fashion and everything you could want from the first day of Royal Ascot 2011, including wonder horse Frankel 2.30pm: Queen Anne Stakes – the result 1 Canford Cliffs (R Hughes) 11-8 2 Goldikova (O Peslier) 5-4 Fav 3 Cityscape (R L Moore) 14-1 7 ran Also: 25-1 Rio De La Plata 4th CSF: £3.18 2.30pm Queen Anne Stakes: The race They’re off … Cape Blanco goes straight into the lead with the field strung out over about seven lengths … Flash Dance takes it up with Canford Cliff sitting quietly in midfield … Goldikova and Canford Cliffs kick away, with the latter getting up to win by about three parts of length under Richard Hughes. “Breeder’s Cup here we come,” declares Tony Paley, sitting oposite me on the Guardian racing desk. Goldikova jockey Olivier Peslier was put up a pound overweight and lost by less than a length. That’s embarrassing for the Frenchman and Goldikova-backers will be entitled to be very annoyed with him. 2.25pm: The parade is over and the horses are cantering down to the stalls. Not long now to the Queen Anne Stakes, which is run over a straight mile. My money’s on Goldikova; happy punting and good luck to one and all with your bets this afternoon … unless they’re different to my bets. 2.22pm: One pound overweight announced on wonder mare Goldikova in the first, according to Richard Hoiles on Twitter. Meanwhile Chris Cook has been getting in the way … “Honestly. You imagine yourself to be unimpressed by royalty. Then Princess Haya [married to Sheikh Mohamed] smiles at you and you feel 10 feet taller. Looked up to find entire Dubaian royal family approaching. Stepped into doorway to let them past. It was the door they wanted to go thru.” 2.21pm: This from Greg Wood in the Royal Ascot parade ring. “Paddock for Queen Anne; warm here now but all seem to be handling it well. Rio De La Plata always looks well, Cityscape looks very well too.” Tony Paley previews the Queen Anne Stakes (2:30pm) Eeny, meeny, miny, moe; it’s the French versus the Brits; male versus female and Olivier Peslier against Richard Hughes. If ever a race was a two-horse affair this is the one. If Goldikova and Canford Cliffs turn up and run to their best this surely only concerns the pair. Cape Blanco needs a longer trip; Cityscape needs softer ground; Ransome Note needs forgiving a very bad most recent run; Rio De La Plata needs to run a lot faster than he ever has before and Flash Dance is there to give Goldikova a lead. And that will be the key as this is going to be a tactical affair and on paper the tactics should suit Goldikova. Stablemate Flash Dance will cut out the pace and she will sit behind her and Cape Blanco and Peslier will pounce with a furlong to go. Her brilliant kick will ensure she goes clear and then it will be up to Hughes and Canford Cliffs to catch her. The imponderable is that though Goldikova has just the superior overall form, Canford Cliffs is capable of better than he has shown so far. Timeform rate Goldikova 146 and Canford 145+. It’s that close. Roll up, roll up. Take your pick. A reminder of today’s card 2.30 Queen Anne Stakes Will Hayler: Goldikova; Top Form: Goldikova 3.05 King’s Stand Stakes Will Hayler: Star Witness; Top Form: Sole Power (nap) 3.45 St James’s Palace Stakes Will Hayler: Grand Prix Boss: Top Form: Frankel 4.25 Coventry Stakes Will Hayler: Mezmaar; Top Form: Gatepost 5.00 Ascot Stakes Will Hayler: Zigato (nb); Top Form: Junior (nb) 5.35 Windsor Castle Stakes Will Hayler: Caspar Netscher; Top Form: Worthington Racecards can be found here . Chris Cook on one American jockey’s flying visit The American-based jockey John Velazquez is here to ride Bridgetown for Todd Pletcher in our second race, the King’s Stand Stakes. He has had time to walk the course but is pretty familiar with the layout, having ridden two winners here in 2009 for Wesley Ward. But this is really a flying visit because, as soon as he’s ridden Bridgetown, he gets a fast car back to the airport with the aim of riding at Belmont, New York, tomorrow. It is especially important that he makes it to Belmont because the track will also stage an inquiry into the Belmont Stakes on Saturday night, when Velazquez’s highly fancied mount, Animal Kingdom, was almost brought down by scrimmaging right after the stalls opened. Random picture of a former England international and his model wife “So, Danielle Bux, what exactly was it that attracted you to the multi-millionaire footballer-turned-Match of the Day-presenter Gary Lineker?” 2.06pm: Silver-tongued racing commentator Richard Hoiles is enjoying the royal procession. “Once again Her Majesty makes all down the middle in the Ascot opener. Too early for track bias?” 2.04pm: Chris Cook is Tweeting like a man possessed. Here he is with some betting news. “Hill’s reporting some hefty bets in their shops. One of £20k and another of £15k, both on Goldikova. Latter was in their Ascot shop. According to Kate Miller of William Hill, “the pro punters are backing Canford Cliffs and the wealthy romantics are backing Goldikova” 1.59pm: If you bet on the Queen wearing a green hat, you can go and collect She’s wearing a mint-green number created by her personal assistant Angela Kelly, according to Jennie Bond on the BBC – the odds against that were a generous 8-1. 1.56pm: Royal Ascot coverage has started on the BBC Clare Balding and Willie Carson-standing-on-a-box, are anchoring the BBC coverage and we’ve already had the obligatory hat montage. They’re “big and loud and colourful and full of feathers” declares a strawberry blonde model whose name I didn’t get upon being quizzed about her thoughts on the millinery on show. 1.46pm: Chris Cook takes in Overdose One of the most fascinating contenders here today is the Hungarian-based Overdose, who takes his chance in today’s second race, the King’s Stand Stakes. I wrote about his background and funny little quirks here and here before he ran in Haydock’s Temple Stakes last month. Alas, he was beaten there and many are now prepared to take the view that he has been over-rated, despite having won 15 of his 17 races. Those close to him, however, insist that the firmish ground at Haydock was all against him. If they’re right, today’s race should show him in a much better light because the going is good after plentiful recent rain. His regular rider, Andreas Suborics, told me just now that this surface should not be a concern and said that all had gone well with Overdose since Haydock. I was worried that he might have been jarred-up by the ground there but Suborics assures me there has been no problem. The horse is a 12-1 shot. 1.35pm: Don’t worry, it’s only a statue “Statue of 4-times Gold Cup winner Yeats about to be unveiled here. Pics at track show him being lowered into place ,” Tweets Chris Cook. Elsewhere on the course, in what looks suspiciously like a corporate hospitality box Guardian freeload … sorry, newshound Owen Gibson Tweets: “Haven’t seen a horse or a jockey yet…but I do know what Vivienne Westwood’s next season collection looks like .” 1.31pm: Chris Cook gets to grips with the Royal Ascot brochure “Royal Ascot, the glossiest of race-meetings, comes with an ‘official magazine’ running to 300 pages of earnest copy and aspirational advertising. The first ad I came to, on page 18, appears to be for a website selling rifles, which seems a faintly dangerous concept. Of course, anyone who turns up at the Queen’s track must, by definition, be a trustworthy sort of chap or chappess. The picture shows just such a fella in mustard tweeds descending a hill, gun resting on shoulder, Labrador at feet. Chillingly, the caption reads: “Not long now … ” 1.28pm: Guardian tipster Up North’s Will Hayler is really entering into the spirit of Royal Ascot, tweeting relentlessly about the card … at Brighton tonight. “I’d love it if The Tatling got his head in front tonight at Brighton on King’s Stand Stakes day. Best of luck to @hudsonshorses.” 1.24pm: Chris Cook on footballers and horse racing … Pre-Ascot fever is by no means confined to the sport of racing, as anyone who follows certain footballers on Twitter will be aware. Michael Owen (@themichaelowen) reported that he’d been awake since 4.20am, unable to sleep, presumably because of excitement, though I suppose some injury may also be to blame. He later posted a very fetching picture of himself in a morning suit by a rented helicopter that was to bring him here from his Cheshire base. But he appears not to fancy the two runners he owns, Barolo Top (also part-owned by Jonathan Woodgate) and Bear Behind, saying he’d be delighted if either got placed and that he has better chances later in the week. His Brown Panther may be the one to look out for in Thursday’s King George V Handicap. Meanwhile, Joey Barton (@Joey7Barton) was also up with the lark, tweeting “7.42am What a day for golf, then Royal Ascot. Good to be alive. Good luck to anyone with runners”. A noble thought, Mr Barton. Later in the week, Ascot awaits the arrival of Craig Levein, who has just revealed he wants Scotland to play like Barcelona . There must be a significantly greater chance of Levein finding his way into the winner’s enclosure with Degas Art after Saturday’s Queen Alexandra Stakes. 1.22pm: Wow, Hayward’s really cranking out the zingers today. His latest missive in 140 characters or less … “Just been handed the Royal Carriage List. I just had to type that sentence. My money’s on Carriage 4 to perform a Jenson Button.” 1.19pm: This fascinating Tweet from our man Paul Hayward, who is also at Royal Ascot today. Divorcees, a threat to world peace, were banned from Ascot’s Royal Enclosure until 1955. Imagine that rule now. The place would be empty. 1.15pm: Win, win win with our Bet365 tipping competition You could win a £50 bet from Bet365 by proving your tipping prowess on today’s races. All you have to do is give us your selections for all of today’s races at Ascot. As ever, our champion will be the tipster who returns the best profit to notional level stakes of £1 at starting price. Non-runners count as losers. Please post all your tips in a single posting , using the comment facility below, before the first race at 2.30pm. There are six races at Ascot today and you must post a single selection for each race. Our usual terms and conditions – which you can read here – will apply, except that this will be a strictly one-day thing. If we get a tie after all the races have been run, the winner will be the one who posted their tips earliest out of those with the highest score. If you don’t win today, don’t despair. We are running an identical competition on each day of the Royal meeting, up to Friday. 1.08pm: Good afternoon everybody. Barry Glendenning here, shackled to a desk in Guardian Towers, rather than wandering around Ascot in a top hat and tails, lorrying back fizz and admiring the scenery. Bah! On the plus side, Guardian tipster Will Hayler is there, having travelled down from his hovel Up North with the Hovis music blaring on his car stereo and his whippet riding shotgun, his long tongue lolling in the breeze as his head hung out the window. Will has sent this dispatch from the front line of pomp and pageantry … WILL HAYLER’S GOING REPORT Twenty-four hours of dry weather means that fears of soft ground at Ascot have proved misplaced – just as clerk of the course Chris Stickels said they would – and the Royal meeting will get underway on ground that is officially ‘good, good to soft in places’. Goingstick readings continue to suggest that the ground is quickest up the middle of the home straight, but it remains to be seen how things will work out once racing gets underway. It would be lovely to think that the runners will remain in one group up the middle of the track but I suspect that someone will be left complaining after the King’s Stand Stakes, as they usually do. My ante-post portfolio is looking light on Royal Ascot this year. I couldn’t find anyone to beat Ryan Moore in the market for top jockey and having missed the early 33-1 on Grand Prix Boss in the St James’s Palace Stakes, I’ve sat out so far from getting involved on that race too. Instead, the only two bets I’ve had so far today are away from Ascot. Given Fault’s (8.00) habit of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, it might seem like a risky play to be with him at Brighton tonight. However he simply has too much in his favour to be overlooked in this moderate contest. Seb Sanders rides this track better than any other and he was also on board when Fault scored over course and distance last September. Indifferent efforts afterwards saw the horse plummet in the weights, but he is back in form again and simply must go well. I’ve also had a very small bet on Easy Terms (2.50) at Thirsk on the strength of the manner of her victory in what I had thought a fair contest at Ripon on her last start. She never managed to win a race for the Millmans, but Edwin Tuer has got a good tune out of this filly since picking her up for four and a half grand at the sales last October. Tuer, who went into training after scooping £4million on the National Lottery in 2002, has proved himself a bit of a dab hand with other trainers’ cast-offs. 12.50pm: Why are all the big races at the start? Simon Clare, director of communications at Coral bookmakers, writes for the Royal Ascot Live! blog about British horse racing’s habit of front loading its race meetings: “This is one of the all time great days at Royal Ascot with Goldikova, Canford Cliffs, Frankel all taking centre stage yet by 3.45pm the best races are over and half the races are still to be run. This is the same on every day this week and is by no means unique to Ascot, it is almost the standard model for all major British race meetings. I find it impossible to believe that this is the best way to build anticipation, and more importantly spend, from racing’s customers whether they are racegoers at the track or punter and fans watching the racing at home or in the nation’s 8,000 betting shops. My view is hardly revolutionary. Every major horse race meeting in the world saves the best until last, building to a crescendo. The Breeders Cup Classic, the Prix De L’Arc De Triomphe, The Dubai World Cup, The Melbourne Cup, The Kentucky Derby, are all either the last or second last races on the biggest days with the quality of race improving with each passing race until they reach the main feature. When would a heavyweight title clash in boxing be anything other than the final event on the card? Never. Would Take That perform halfway through the evening with a couple of warm up acts following them to close out the evening? Of course not. Wherever you look, be it Sport or the world of Entertainment, the best and most logical way to develop excitement and anticipation is to stage the headline act or race at the end of the event. British Racing is doing itself a costly disservice. There is no question in my mind that if the Queen Anne and the St James Palace stakes were the last two races on today’s card at 5pm and 5.35pm then significantly more money would be bet, and more people would be able to watch the races on TV and in betting shops. It is definitely worthy of serious debate and exploration. I can think of no more obvious and valuable change to the fabric of major race days in Britain than reappraising the order of the main events. 12.24pm: Top Five Royal Ascot fashion spots Fashion writer Imogen Fox gives the lowdown on the outfits that will undoubtedly appear at Royal Ascot: Paddy Power can give you odds on the colour of the Queen’s hat* but they won’t give you odds on this stuff because, frankly, a sighting is a dead cert. Here are five things the fashion desk are expecting to see at Royal Ascot. 1. The Shola Reiss dress. For those with furrowed brows I’m referring to the caramel coloured bandage dress that Duchess Kate wore to meet the Obamas . It was an instant sell-out, and so by rights we should see it at Ascot at some point this week. It goes without saying that chiffon above the knee dresses in white and cornflower blue will also score a high count since Kate Cambridge is without doubt this meet’s style inspiration 2. A sub-Princess Beatrice hat . Whatever your view on the Werther’s Original styling of that wedding hat, it was beautifully made. The copies, alas, won’t be. 3. Colour blocking – ie summer’s headline fashion trend. Naturally the jockeys have this trend down pat. Most stylish colour blocking jockey silks of the day? P Mulrennan on Stonefield Flyer in the 5.35pm is the fashion desk’s unanimous choice. 4. An espadrille wedge. Rope heeled wedge shoes with a round toe are very Pippa Middleton and so will be no escape. Worn with bare legs they look great, worn with sheer tights they’re unforgivable. 5. A pastel waistcoat. “No man should wear sorbet” says the fashion desk menswear expert Simon Chilvers. Alas Prince Harry wore a lemon waistcoat at Epsom recently and so since the Facebook Royals will be defining the look at this year’s Ascot there’s an outside chance of spotting one in the Royal Enclosure this week. *Those Queen’s hat odds: 9/4 Yellow 7/2 Peach/Apricot 5/1 Blue 6/1 Pink 6/1 Purple 8/1 Green 11/1 Red 14/1 White/Cream 16/1 Orange 20/1 Brown 25/1 Grey/Silver 40/1 Black 200/1 Union Jack Design 500/1 Princess Beatrice’s Pretzel Hat 12.03pm: On Fallon, the Press Association adds: Kieren Fallon will sit out his two rides at Royal Ascot this afternoon. The former champion jarred his neck while riding out this morning, but is expected to take his rides at the meeting tomorrow. His agent Terry Norman said: “He was advised to miss today and to have physio. It’s more a precaution than anything, he will definitely be OK tomorrow and the rest of the week.” Eddie Ahern will take the mount on Nicky Henderson’s Veiled in the Ascot Stakes at 5.00. 12.01pm: Top jockey Kieron Fallon is out of the first day’s racing at Royal Ascot, tweets the BBC’s Cornelius Lysaght . 12.00pm: Frankel – the wonder horse? Frankel is the name on everybody’s lips as racing’s latest wonder horse prepares to strut his stuff this afternoon. Here is racing correspondent Greg Wood’s superb piece on the colt . Sports correspondent Paul Hayward talked to Sir Henry Cecil, Frankel’s trainer, last week and the result was this profile of the hugely popular man in the Observer . If you want to get some idea of the power Frankel can unleash. Have a look at his runaway victory in the 2,000 Guineas on YouTube: What is it like to ride the great Frankel? His jockey Tom Queally gives us an insight in the Daily Telegraph in an interview with Ian Chadband . The best of Royal Ascot For the vast majority of people what matters is what to wear. Here’s the BBC guide to what to get out and what to leave in the wardrobe . Which includes this handy tip on hats: Don’t wear it at a jaunty angle. Resist the temptation to rest it on your ears. If you want to exercise the grey matter on what people wear at Ascot says about Britain here’s a thought-provoking feature from the Independent written at last year’s meeting by Liz Hoggard . This is the most anticipated Royal Ascot for many years. The Racing Post is calling it racing’s Olympics. The Mail plumped for racing’s World Cup. Find out why here . For an excellent free preview of the racing each day you can do no better than consult tipping experts Timeform here. And if you want a meaty digest of the racing on the track and a guide to how the races went and the horses to follow after the day’s action have a look at Mark Howard’s diary here . Today’s races 2.30 Queen Anne Stakes Will Hayler: Goldikova; Top Form: Goldikova 3.05 King’s Stand Stakes Will Hayler: Star Witness; Top Form: Sole Power (nap) 3.45 St James’s Palace Stakes Will Hayler: Grand Prix Boss: Top Form: Frankel 4.25 Coventry Stakes Will Hayler: Mezmaar; Top Form: Gatepost 5.00 Ascot Stakes Will Hayler: Zigato (nb); Top Form: Junior (nb) 5.35 Windsor Castle Stakes Will Hayler: Caspar Netscher; Top Form: Worthington Racecards can be found here . Twitter The best of our team’s tweets will be on this blog, but you can follow our Royal Ascot here: Tony Paley , Greg Wood , Chris Cook , Barry Glendenning , Will Hayler and Steve Busfield . Ascot Horse racing Horse racing tips Frankel Barry Glendenning Tony Paley Steve Busfield Will Hayler Greg Wood Chris Cook guardian.co.uk